Jeff Smith (motorcyclist)

Jeff Smith MBE
Jeff Smith in 1962
Nationality	English
Born	1934 (age 89–90) Colne, Lancashire, England
Motocross career
Years active	1953–1971
Teams	BSA
Championships	500cc – 1964 – 1965
Wins	30

Jeffrey Vincent Smith MBE (born 1934) is an English former professional motorcycle racer.^[1] He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1954 to 1969 as a member of the BSA factory racing team.

His achievements in motorcycle racing include two FIM 500cc Motocross World Championships (1964, 1965), two British Trials Championships, multiple British Experts Trial wins, four individual race wins in the Motocross des Nations, one Scottish Six Days Trial win and eight ISDT Gold Medals.^[1][2] In the 1970 New Year Honours, Smith was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to motorcycle racing.^[1][3][4]

Born in Colne, Lancashire, England, Smith began in competitions as a trials rider, becoming so successful that he was offered a place on the Norton factory team.^[1] After moving to BSA, he won the 1953 and 1954 British Trials Championship.^[1] BSA asked Smith to compete in motocross racing which he did with such success that he soon began to concentrate on a motocross career.^[1]

In the 1964 500cc Motocross World Championship, the defending champion, Rolf Tibblin, began the season strongly by winning five of the first six races of the season, but the 30-year-old Smith consistently scored points throughout the season and never finished below third place.^[5] The championship wasn't decided until the final race of the season in Spain, where Smith took the victory to claim the World Championship by only two points over Tibblin.^[5] His performance earned him the Motorcycle News 1964 'Man of the Year' award.^[1][6] He successfully defended his crown the following year.^[7] His 1965 championship win on the four-stroke engined BSA Victor would be the last victory for this type of motor, as two-stroke engine technology dominated off-road racing for the next several decades. He finally announced his retirement in January 1972.^[8]

After he retired from competition, Smith helped to develop off-road motorcycles as special projects manager based in Minnesota, US, for Can-Am, the motorcycle division of Canada's Bombardier organisation.^[9][3] The Can-Am racing team claimed the first three places in the 1974 AMA 250cc motocross national championship.^[1] He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000.^[1]

Smith was an AMA director and Treasurer, and also involved in vintage motorcycle racing as an Executive Director and Assistant Treasurer of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association AHRMA, before resigning from AMA on 15 February 2008, followed by his resignation from AHRMA, as a result of irregular expense-account claims submitted by the then AMA Chairman.^[10][11]

Points system from 1952 to 1968: